| Lake Hamana | |
|---|---|
| A view from Hamanako Service Area | |
| Landsat image | |
| Location | Shizuoka Prefecture |
| Primary outflows | Philippine Sea |
| Basin countries | Japan |
| Surface area | 65.0 km² |
| Average depth | 4.8 meters |
| Max. depth | 16.6 meters |
| Water volume | 0.35 km³ |
| Shore length1 | 114 kilometers |
| Surface elevation | 0 meters |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Lake Hamana (浜名湖 Hamanako) in Shizuoka Prefecture is Japan's tenth largest lake (by area). It spans the boundaries of the cities of Hamamatsu and Kosai.
Contents |
The lake has an area of 65.0 km² and holds 0.35 km³ of water. Its circumference is 114 km. At its deepest point, the water is 16.6 m deep. The surface is at sea level.
Lake Hamana is a commercial source of cultivated Japanese eel, nori, oysters and Chinese soft-shelled turtles. Fishers take sea bass, whiting, and flounder, among others. The lake has been developed as a resort area, with boating as a feature.
In ancient times, Lake Hamana was a fresh-water lake. However, a great earthquake in 1498 altered the topography of the area. As a result, the water in the lake is now brackish.
The old name for this lake is Tohotsu-afumi (遠つ淡海), which means "distant fresh-water lake" and later changed to Tōtōmi (遠江). From the perspective of the capital in the Kinai, Tōtōmi is more distant than the another famous lake Chikatsu-afumi or Ōmi (now Lake Biwa), the "nearby fresh-water lake." The name, Tōtōmi, was also used for a former province in which the lake is located (Tōtōmi Province).
This article incorporates material from the article 浜名湖 (Hamanako) in the Japanese Wikipedia, retrieved on December 11, 2007.
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Lake_Hamana Lake Hamana] at Wikimedia Commons